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hamliet · 5 months

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Dear Hamliet, I've read some of your analysis and I really admire the way in which you articulate your thoughts. I'm a literature major who goes through a breakdown every time I have to write an essay. It is a really hard job for me and recently a proff told me that I rely too much on paraphrasing and I don't understand what to do with that.

So I was wondering if you have any tips on writing a well articulated argument.

Thanks in advance and hope you're having a great day! ☺️🫶

Thank you! And of course.

First of all, go easy on yourself. Learning to write good essays takes time and practice. I routinely got told the same thing about paraphrasing in high school, and then in college it was "you didn't answer 'so what?'" I was also incredibly hard on myself in college, and only realized that I actually liked writing arguments and essays after college. Probably has something to do with the fact that, while some people tend to refine under pressure, I crumble into a heap of anxiety. Lol.

Tips for Arguments: Thesis

Here are my first tips: come up with a good thesis and write an outline based on this, but also keep in mind that your thesis can be revised after you've written it should you find you were arguing something slightly different than you planned on.

Good thesis tips: should be debatable (for example, saying "Daenerys and Jon Snow are foils" is not debatable; they blatantly are). It should also answer "so what?" aka, why does what you're trying to argue matter? In terms of literature, specifically, you might want to tie it to the themes of the story or the historical context of the work, depending on the prompt, to explain that your argument affects how people read the work. For example, "Daenerys and Jon Snow foil each other in that they each deconstruct a particular archetype of the chosen one, which shows both the bad and the good of chosen one arcs; ultimately, Martin affirms the heroic goals of chosen one tropes."

You'll also hear "repeat your thesis in every body paragraph!" Which you should do (or paraphrase it, lol). But basically you want the last sentence of each argumentative point to explain why it proves your thesis.

Tip for Argument: Bluntness

You can never be too blunt in an essay. Particularly if you're writing in English, and particularly even more so if you're doing so in America (yes, culture does play a role in the levels of bluntness expected in an essay, and there are actual studies on this, as well as how culture affects essay structures!).

If you think it seems obvious, state it anyways. Don't worry about repetition so much. Worry instead about being too vague.

This is obviously a different idea than in creative writing, where subtext and "show, don't tell" get a lot of attention. Not so in academic writing. Tell us, even if you think you've shown us.

Tips for Avoiding Paraphrasing:

Think about your audience. It's hard to know specifically what you refer to, but I'm going to assume that you might be referring to the idea that you might be summarizing the book too much?

Your audience already knows the story. You aren't speaking to a rando on the street. Your audience is your professor.

Every piece of text you cite, be it a quote or a plot development, is evidence. They don't need the context of the broader work. Assume they already have it. They need evidence.

Context matters for you, insofar as authorial intent (your intent as the author of the essay) matters. Not for the audience perception. Basically, I'm saying don't take quotes out of context to make them seem like they support your thesis when they really don't, but you also don't need to explain in great detail why the context does support your thesis. Assume your professor is not a hostile audience who needs to be convinced because they believe the opposite of what you're arguing.

The other potential thing you might mean for paraphrasing is that you use brief paraphrases of the text rather than direct quotes. Where you can use direct quotes, always use them.

If you ever have specific questions on an essay, please feel free to reach out! And if any part of this isn't clear, also feel free to reach out!

#ask hamliet

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janiedean · 3 months

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I read your metas on why you think GRRM always meant for Bran to be KITN, not King of the 7K as per what he told Benioff and Weiss during their decades-long intimate working relationship on the show adaptation and I have to say I disagree lol. I don't really understand how someone can think that Benioff and Weiss were told 'yeah Jon sits the throne and the irrelevant 8 year old fourth son of the Stark family becomes KITN' and D and D were like, 'ummm no we're going to blow our legacy by putting BRAN of all characters on the IT, and not giving our fan favorite character his shining moment on the IT.' I don't like Bran as King and neither did D and D, but they had to maintain that GOT was some semblance of an adaptation so they had to use Martin's endgames. It blows my mind that people still deny this. I do think the north being independent and Sansa being QITN was fanservice tho. She will likely be Lady of Winterfell, not queen. Anyone that thinks she ends her story in the Vale is deeply unserious.

Jon's a chosen one deconstruction because once he finds out about his parentage, it's not going to be a good thing that gives him a renewed sense of self like in the thousands of other chosen one fantasy arcs. It will be a devastating revelation for him and cause a very negative identity crisis. Also, his parentage was always meant to be a red herring, why do you think GRRM set it up in a way that there is literally no way for Jon to prove he's actually R and L's son? Much less prove he's a legitimate son born from a valid, legal marriage? I don't think anyone outside of Jon's very close inner circle will ever know the truth about who his real parents are, it's not something he will want to ever be made known lmao. The show conflating Jon with YG, not adapting YG, and basically being a Jon Snow is So Great Fanservice vehicle in the last few seasons has made the fandom think that's where his arc is leading, it's not. Not that GRRM will ever publish another book, but anyway.

Also, Jon is not AA, it is Dany. The thing is.....that's not a good thing lol. The AA prophecy is basically prophesizing the coming of Khal Stalin, not a savior lmao. That's the twist and the double edge sword with prophecies that is so very Martin. The constant debates among the fandom as to who is AA is so hilarious because they fundamentally don't understand that it's a negative prophecy. The dramatic irony of house targ thinking they need to bring about the AA prophecy to save humanity when in actuality they are unleashing a new evil that needs to be defeated is deeply delicious dramatic irony. But the fandom is too bogged down into the most basic fantasy tropes to see it and refuses to acknowledge that GRRM is cynically deconstructing these tropes. Almost as if he's trying to say that being the son of the crown prince actually sucks and will make the supposed 'chosen one's' life hell, the ethereal looking princess with the sympathetic backstory is actually an authoritarian tyrant who's bloody conquest for the iron throne using her hordes of brainwashed killing machines will cause destruction not restore some great dynasty, and the 'broken' disabled boy with special mind powers who is able to look into all of history to learn from the mistakes of all the monarchs that came before him is the 'best' ruler for a 'broken' realm.

I'm uuuuh, gonna try and reply to this as briefly as I can but like with the premise that everyone can agree or disagree with anything and text interpretation can't be set in stone until like the entire thing is over... in order

I don't really understand how someone can think that Benioff and Weiss were told 'yeah Jon sits the throne and the irrelevant 8 year old fourth son of the Stark family becomes KITN' and D and D were like, 'ummm no we're going to blow our legacy by putting BRAN of all characters on the IT, and not giving our fan favorite character his shining moment on the IT.'

anon I don't wanna sound rude but.... they lit set jon up to kill the night king and then made arya of all ppl do it NONSENSICALLY just to make ppl surprised, they literally shat all over the entire text since S2 if not S1 already, just the robb storyline shows they didn't understand anything about the point of the red wedding which they said they WANTED to adapt and they basically made shit up since s4 onwards without anything making literal sense including making c*rsei the ultimate boss when there is no shred of text evidence she's that important and grrm is pissed with the ending so like... I can 100% think that both of them didn't gaf about what grrm had to say and just understood what they wanted to, also because we're talking abt the ppl who made stannis go agamemnon on shireen because they hated his ass when if shireen dies like that no way it's stannis ordering it by any shred of textual sense so I absolutely will say dnd didn't gaf about what grrm said and threw their legacy in the trash, that because.... everyone thought the finale was trash and they haven't had a gig like that since bc no one wants them after got, with good reason, so like ppl can say that because there is nothing dnd have done as showrunners that shows they gaf about the og text, end of story

I don't like Bran as King and neither did D and D, but they had to maintain that GOT was some semblance of an adaptation so they had to use Martin's endgames. It blows my mind that people still deny this. I do think the north being independent and Sansa being QITN was fanservice tho. She will likely be Lady of Winterfell, not queen. Anyone that thinks she ends her story in the Vale is deeply unserious.

except the jc endgame is obviously not the book endgame, lit no one's endgame except imvho jon's (hahaha) and possibly tyrion/davos is the actual book endgame and I'd like everyone to remember there's no shred of textual evidence rickon doesn't die in the books but anyway like... sorry but dnd not wanting to put jon on the IT for shock value (which is obvious since everyone expected it) and not giving bran kitn to give it to sansa so ppl who wanted her to be queen would be happy makes absolute sense to me, also like... again I'm not gonna go over it again bc you said you read the meta but: bran is a deconstructed version of a kingly arthurian archetype which by himself means that he has to become king while being disabled/in virtue of having lost his legs so like sorry but bran being king is absolutely in the text but no way it makes sense it's 7k since he's directly tied to his land and its magic same as the fisher king so......

I agree and I wrote a longass meta about jon being a chosen one deconstruction but being AA/his inheritance absolutely does not rule out it being a deconstruction imvho

Also, his parentage was always meant to be a red herring, why do you think GRRM set it up in a way that there is literally no way for Jon to prove he's actually R and L's son?

howland reed was there when he was born and lyanna could have told him and ned they were married, also bran can lit travel in time and prove it/see it happen, but even if he's not legitimate wrt rhaegar it doesn't matter because in the book he's legitimate wrt robb's will so he's gonna get kitn title at some point even just for that but like... point is if howland reed corroborates it and he gets a pet dragon or smth and no one has reasons to disagree esp because they'll need to kill zombies whether r/l were married doesn't matter at all

Much less prove he's a legitimate son born from a valid, legal marriage? I don't think anyone outside of Jon's very close inner circle will ever know the truth about who his real parents are, it's not something he will want to ever be made known lmao. The show conflating Jon with YG, not adapting YG, and basically being a Jon Snow is So Great Fanservice vehicle in the last few seasons has made the fandom think that's where his arc is leading, it's not. Not that GRRM will ever publish another book, but anyway.

we can't know about wrt grrm publishing something else or not but again: howland reed knows and he's still around and kicking and there is no reason for people to not make it known especially when it comes out and they have to treat with dany, also the show conflated young griff with both jon and cersei and jon connington with jorah and daenerys which makes no sense whatsoever so like that argument holds zero water bc they didn't know what they were doing and it shows

anon the second maester aemon said on page AA is daenerys out loud it went out of the window, the way asoiaf prophecies are structured everyone who's rumored to be X by other people/themselves before it actually happens won't be that, and jon only ever was deemed a candidate by a vision melisandre had... which she immediately discarded bc she didn't understand what the hell her own god was telling her so sorry but I don't agree and it's not gonna happen

The constant debates among the fandom as to who is AA is so hilarious because they fundamentally don't understand that it's a negative prophecy. The dramatic irony of house targ thinking they need to bring about the AA prophecy to save humanity when in actuality they are unleashing a new evil that needs to be defeated is deeply delicious dramatic irony. But the fandom is too bogged down into the most basic fantasy tropes to see it and refuses to acknowledge that GRRM is cynically deconstructing these tropes. Almost as if he's trying to say that being the son of the crown prince actually sucks and will make the supposed 'chosen one's' life hell, the ethereal looking princess with the sympathetic backstory is actually an authoritarian tyrant who's bloody conquest for the iron throne using her hordes of brainwashed killing machines will cause destruction not restore some great dynasty, and the 'broken' disabled boy with special mind powers who is able to look into all of history to learn from the mistakes of all the monarchs that came before him is the 'best' ruler for a 'broken' realm.

anon I don't even disagree with all of this but:

i do not think that in any way shape or form jon is not AA - there is no way he's not, he's lit the only one who actually came back to life in the show if we wanna show truth and there's no other character who lit resurrected and no one else will so there's that, he died according to the prophecy and no one in text would ever put a cent on AA being him, like.,........ what we know is not what they do and for westeros jon snow is the least likely candidate soooo like sorry but I don't think it makes sense that anyone else is AA, you can think it's dany but idt there's a chance in hell

I think the evil is already there and it's zombies, like... ik the show made it look like the long night was nothing but it's the actual ultimate big bad so there's no need for AA to be another evil, rhaegar would have misunderstood the og prophecy well enough as it is without getting that far

jon being the chosen one and AA would still make his life hell

idt dany is written in the book as an authoritarian tyrant and idt it's where she's headed and I'm saying it as someone who doesn't gaf about dany and doesn't care either way but the show version was just ridiculous and nothing in the text says she's headed there whatsoever

I also agree this fandom cannibalizing itself over who is AA is ridiculous... because it's jon and there's no reason to further argue over that ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

bran can absolutely be the best ruler for a broken realm,..... the north, which has been mauled and will be further mauled by the zombies, and it makes no sense he is 7k anyway given his background and stuff, again you can disagree with it as you want but idt anything that happened in the show except an extremely selected amount of things which are absolutely out of context has a chance in hell of happening in the books and from the way grrm reacted to the finale it seems obvious to me, then... again you can agree or disagree with me but I wrote so much meta on the topic I honestly feel like I'd be rehashing myself over and over if I went about it again but like

of course everyone believes in their own interpretation but there's no way I'm gonna be swayed by any argument agains kitn!bran and 7k!jon who then abdicates and goes to the wildlings by anything that's not grrm publishing ados and writing differently, godspeed and that's mvho ;)

#ask post #janie replies #anonymous #queue of the beam #guys like i get it but idt i can be swayed by any argument #ive thought about this for years #it's my ultimate thing to say so until i see grrm publishing differently idt i'm gonna go back on it #anti-cersei lannister #anti-jaime x cersei

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tempoaryblogformightyjensblog · 1 year

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I feel like people should realize how the chosen one is just another trope. It's not an inheritantly bad trope, it's just a trope.

You can have it be deconstructed or subverted or whatever. But you can also just put your own spin on it.

Luz Noceda is, IMO, an example of the chosen one trope. She does not have a special lineage nor was it something decided before her birth. However the fact that the Titan is sapient seemingly confirms that the Titan was indeed guiding her on her journey so that she could defeat Philip Wittebane.

She's still a version of the Chosen One. It's simply based on her own character rather then something decided beforehand. She seem d like a good witch with how kind she was and how she cared for his son so the Titan decided she was the right one. And that's not uncommon either, 'only the who is pure of heart can do X' or a protagnist proving themselves worthy of something great through their own goodness are not unheard of versions of it either.

Hell, you could write it so that it is a case of 'destiny' however it's something the protagonist wants. But might not achieve if they make the wrong decisions and such. That way it still involves agency and so forth.

You can write it so that a higher power is giving the protagonist nudges in the right direction but the ultimate decision to be q hero and do the right thing is up to them.

My point with all this is that the chosen one is simply another trope. Deconstructions or subversions can be fun, but that's not the only thing your allowed to do. Some seem to think that subverting it is the only thing you could do or that it's something you should avoid. When it's not, you can play it straight or simply put a spin on it if you'd like. It just depends on how you write it

#writing #the chosen one #tropes #The owl house #toh spoilers #Luz noceda #the Titan #kings dad #deconstructions #reconstruction

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thekingofwinterblog · 3 months

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If you had to pitch why Amphibia is a good show to somebody who hasn't seen it, what would you say? For example, to me it seems as yet another standard kids cartoon, but I'm curious what you and others find in it. Sorry if this sounds combatitive, just curios.

Well the single best part about it is it's three human leads, Anne, Sasha and Marcy, all three of whom are very well developed, flawed and above everythin else, human characters, who are a treat to watch. Most of the more recent good western animated shows tend to have only one character with character writing at the absolute peak. Amphibia has 3 leads, and 4 with the main antagonist included.

the first two seasons is pretty much perfect as far as the human trio is concerned, with the only complaint i have is that sasha deserved a few episodes more.

as for what else, Ambpibia has a surprisingly well developed and interesting world, that feels lived in, with the cultures that have sprung up from living in this death world, where an early demise is common feels very believable and fun to watch.

Which leads me into what makes Amphibia stand apart the most. It's hilarious dark humor. If you liked Gravity Falls and Ducktales comedy, and/or is a fan of dark comedy in general, you will love Amphibias humor, because it's that, only much darker.

It's also very much a deconstructive work in the good way, where it both picks apart and rebuilds the tropes around both isekai and chosen fiction works. So if you like that sort of work, Amphibia is a great example.

#questions and answers #amphibia #meta

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dnpanimationstudioclone · 1 year

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Underrated Shows#3 🗡️Gary & His Demons😈

Found out about this show a little bit ago, it’s a cartoon animated by Mondo Media about a guy having to fight demons and ITS AMAZING! Why it’s worth a watch!

* The Main protagonist is your typical cynical jerk protagonist but also develops and has a lot of depth and growth and freaking hilarious. His VA is AMAZING! * Interesting plot. A world of demons and creatures, very interesting and detailed! Both sides have a lot of emotion and complexity, it’s not all black and white. * A lot of good deconstruction tropes about being the “chosen one” and shows why it might not be the best thing in both a funny and heartbreaking light.

* I haven’t watched all the eps but ep 3 is my PERSONAL TOP FAV💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖

* Funny🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

* Good balance of light and dark humour.

* Character dialogue a lot of the time becomes pretty realistic and freaking hilarious because of it.

* Complex, relatable characters.

* Good character development, retains OG traits but still has growth and development.

* Has very serious, heartfelt moments.

* AMAZING designs and animation.

* Def a lot of cool anime homages and references fans of the genre would probably get into well!

* More Personal reason, it’s a Canadian cartoon, created by the Mark Little and other amazing Canadian VA’s writers, and so on! It’s great to have my country involved more great animation content🇨🇦

I could go on and on but in all seriousness, it’s a really good Adult Cartoon and def worth the watch! It can be found on Prime, Adult Swim and other places. I have some other suggestions for good shows as well!

https://at.tumblr.com/dnpanimationstudioclone/underrated-shows1-rimba-racer/zjjb2ykv2k9e

https://at.tumblr.com/dnpanimationstudioclone/underrated-shows-2-mutant-league/bklysuswbrdh

#Gary and his demons #underrated cartoons #underrated shows

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shsenhaji · 6 months

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📚 September and October Reading Round-Up 📚

November is here - what happened to summer?

I wasn't able to post my September reading round-up, so here are the books I read these past two months.

I was able to read some really great and emotional books! I embarked on a re-read of one of my favourite series, the Protector of the Small quartet by Tamora Pierce, and read some new favourites as well.

In September, I read:

- Heaven Official's Blessing Volume 2 by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu (amazing! spectacular! heartwrenching and bittersweet, my first time reading the official English translation of this part of the story)

- Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh (very good, listened to the amazing audiobook, was very immersed in the story and engaged in trying to figure out what would happen next, kept thinking about the story even when I wasn't listening to it, very emotional throughout - especially the ending)

- Gallant by VE Schwab (First VE Schawb book but not the last, beautiful writing and engaging themes, wrote a book review)

- An Artificial Night by Seanan McGuire (enjoyed it a lot more than the two previous books, especially loved the ending, some really good themes and great character growth)

- Sisters of the Vast Black by Lina Rather (really liked it, was very invested in the story by the second chapter, loved the themes, the characters, and the reveals, did want a bit more of slice-of-life with "regular" humanitarian missions, lovely prose)

- The Remarkable Retirement of Edna Fisher by E.M Anderson (very good, wasn't sure if the premise would live up to itself at first but was immediately compelled by the story and writing, a lot of heart, not really a deconstruction of the Chosen One trope, figured out one of the main twists a chapter earlier and was very excited to be proven right, didn't love denouement as much but the ending was still heartfelt, some of the themes surrounding the squires gave parallels to my subsequent Protector of the Small quarted re-read)

In October, I read:

- A House With Good Bones by T. Kingfisher (the audiobook was amazing and I loved the narration, a very good story, interesting ending, loved the characters and the themes, liked the slow build-up of tension and the fact that it wasn't too scary for my tastes)

- Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert (great, funny, definitely cried during the last part of the book, lovely characters and relationships and themes)

- First Test and Page by Tamora Pierce (listened to the audiobooks this time, found the narrator okay, definitely teared up at a lot of parts, kind of depressing to listen to this book while knowing that certain things in the real world which the themes reference have gotten worse since the book was published, felt that Page wasn't as impactful when listening to it, but still an overall good experience)

- Squire by Tamora Pierce (very good, nice and enjoyable re-read, not as heart-wrenching as First Test and Page in some ways, loved seeing Kel's growth)

- Batman: Wayne Family Adventures Volume 2 by CRC Payne and StarBite (lovely, heartwarming, funny, a great read, loved having the physical copy to hold in my hands)

- Bleach Vol. 1 by Tite Kubo (funny, fast read, found it a bit hard to follow the actions sometimes, funny character interactions, some deep and important themes about grief and souls)

- The Game of Courts by Victoria Goddard (loved it, so fun having Conju's perspective on certain events as well as getting to know him better, loved the tale of friendship and finding purpose after grief and the end of the world as you knew it)

- The Stars Change by Mary Anne Mohanraj (very good and gripping, absolutely loved the audiobook, hopeful and heart-wrenching with a lovely ending, wrote a book review)

- Kingdom of the Wicked by Kerri Maniscalco (very good, second time trying to read the book and ended up re-reading the beginning, enjoyed the story and the characters and the themes a lot, that ending!)

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kelmcdonald · 7 months

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Spooky Season is Here!

Hi everyone! And welcome to everyone who signed up for my newsletter at Rose Comic Con. It turned out to be the best Rose City Comic Con I've ever been to. If you're new here I'm making these comics:

Blue Moon is a werewolf romance gn I'm writing and Meredith McClarren is going to draw. I'm late on its script.

The City Between is my webcomic about werewolves in the future. It updates Wednesdays. The current story is called Shards of Reflection.

You are the Chosen One is a fantasy comic about 23 kids who got the same prophecy dream. It was posting on Fridays on my Patreon. But my editorial work has been piling up/overwhelming me lately. So it's on hold until I finish up some other stuff.

My day job is an editor at the manga company Seven Seas and the indie comic publisher Iron Circus Comics. I like folklore, fantasy, and especially like werewolves.

The big exciting thing this month is I've been helping my good friend and streaming cohost, Alina Pete, build and prep a backerkit campaign for the anthology they've been editing, Indiginerds.

Indiginerds wants to celebrate the ever evolving Indigenous culture. Organized by the ever talented editor Alina Pete, one of the co-editors on Iron Circus's wildly successful anthology Woman in the Woods, this book collects work from several indigenous artists and writers. From gaming to social media, pirate radio to garage bands, Star Trek to D&D, and missed connections at the pow wow, Indigenous culture is so much more than how it’s usually portrayed. Join this anthology as it examines balancing traditional ways of knowing and pop culture.

It will launch October 16th. If you want to be one of the first people to backer, you can sign up to be notified here. It's a great book and I'm excited for the world to see Alina's hard work.

This month, I'm also gonna start making comics that answer reader questions. If you have one post it here!

Also on full moons, I host a werewolf movie watch parties in my discord. Next full moon is October 28th. And at noon PST, we will be watching the 70s Japanese werewolf movie, Wolf Guy! If you'd like to join click here.

I'll also be doing my usual streaming

As always I'll be streaming art on Twitch. My schedule is currently the following:

Tuesday 8pm-10pm PST

Wednesday 8pm-10pm PST

Thursday 6pm-9pm PST (during the Iron Circus Geekshow)

Stop by!

Last month I was mostly keeping my nose to the grindstone except for selling stuff at Rose City Comic Con. Thanks everyone who stopped by and grabbed a book. I mostly took pictures of cosplay when I wasn't selling books. You can see them all here. But there are the highlights.

The leads of the Sabriel series by Garth Nix!

An excellent Claudia from Interview with a Vampire show

Nedry from Jurassic Park, complete with shaving cream dna holder.

And best for last, an older cosplay rocking a Granny Goodness from New Gods.

This month I got several of the backgrounds done for the video game I'm working on for Iron Circus games. I have two or 3 more settings to draw. But I'm gonna spend next month focused The City Between and the manga I'm editing for Seven Seas.

Speaking of manga, one of the favorite titles I've been editing for Seven Seas, Reincarnated into a Total Fantasy Knockout, is out now.

It's about a guy who is transported into a fantasy world and is turned into a hot girl. His best friend is also transported and the two have to stop a demonlord to get home. It's complicated by the fact that they are cursed to be attracted to each other. It's a deconstruction of both romance and fantasy tropes while talking about gender identity. It's a lot of fun!

This month I've mostly been watching Star Trek stuff. Particularly, Lower Decks. I appreciate that while Lower Decks is an adult comedy cartoon, it's humor doesn't come from one character being awful and abuse to other. That's a refreshing break from all the adult cartoons trying to copy Rick and Morty. I think the characters are just a lot of fun. Also, this season the little monster Moopsy has captured my heart (and my bones.) They need plushies of this little guy.

I also reread one of my favorite mangas, Pluto. If you are unfamiliar, Pluto is a retelling and modernization of an Astroboy story. It is a murder mystery as a robot detective looks into someone murdering the worlds most advanced robots. I decided to reread it because there was a question going around bluesky about what scenes from comics have stuck with people/"live in their head." For me it's a scene between Astroboy (or Atom as he is called in this book) and the scientist who built him, Dr Tenma, having diner.

Basically, this scene sticks with me because Atom was built to replace Dr. Tenma's dead son. This starts with Atom talking about his interests and how he happily did his chores. Everything Atom cares about isn't what Dr. Tenma's son cared about. Both of them realize over the meal that Atom is his own person and he can't replace Dr. Tenma's son. So even though Atom is the most humanlike robot ever made and is a grade scientific achievement, Dr. Tenma failed in his goal to bring back his son. And Atom is left is an impossible task. I think it's just such a well paced and laid out scene. In context, I think it's heartbreaking.

That's it for this month! Have a good one everyone.

#newsletter #comics #werewolves #artists on tumblr #pluto #moopsy #lower decks #rose city comic con

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allronix · 2 years

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I am answering @writerbuddha and their AMAZING and polite response to my admittedly sarcastic and not very polite rant about the Jedi positive versus Jedi Critical side of things. I thank you @writerbuddha and can only hope to play a proper David Brin to your Matt Stover (Star Wars on Trial - FABULOUS book, totally a fun read and great meta).

But given the very long reply (once again, love those walls o text! I love ‘em like a Traviss Mando loves a good fight), I’ll have to answer this in parts.

First, I think it’s important to clarify that from where I stand, you examine Star Wars through a different lens than mine – and through that lens, your arguments and conclusions are valid. I am not seeking to challenge or refute them, for I deeply agree with them. What I am trying to do is to offer my lens to see through. I am really glad you mentioned the affiliation of younglings into the Jedi Order, because that story element illustrates this perfectly.

Definitely an understatement.

I watched the OT like every kid of the 80s, but didn’t pay it any further attention until college and the Prequels came out. And what is now “Legends” was just “Expanded Universe.” I got a crash course in the setting by the West End tabletop game because my sister’s group realized “Oops. We have no medic.” But we were playing in the Rebellion Era so Jedi just weren’t on the radar. So my first big exposure to the Jedi as an organization was the Prequels as a college aged adult.

And yeah, I definitely can see that part of the schism is if you are approaching like a Campbell-style monomyth the way Lucas is, or approaching it from the “deconstructed fairy tale” angle. And if we’re not patching the canon fails or writing smut, fanfic writers are gonna yank those loose threads in the logic.

Great example is the whole “hero marries the princess and is appointed heir to the kingdom as a reward having slain the dragon” trope. Campbell (and Lucas) logic is that the young male hero, having gone forth and taken care of the evil and achieved masculine success is no longer a callow youth and gets to have the rewards of becoming a mature man with marriage and family. The princess either represents a unification with female energy or is a mere nonentity.

If you run a deconstruction angle, challenging the logic of Campbell, this trope runs into a huge set of problems. It ignores that Hero and Princess probably have nothing in common. It treats a human being (the Princess) as an object to be traded like some bauble, Hero probably has no clue how to actually run a kingdom, etc.

So if I’m reading you right, the fairy tale logic of the Jedi are these great and wise wizards who are chosen by the Gods as their hands and eyes, to carry out the will of the Gods. And since the Gods are omnibenevolent, so are the Jedi. And it is to be read as a tragedy that of their Chosen One defying the Will of the Gods, making a deal with the devil, and bringing shame and doom upon all.

Whereas the deconstruction fairy tale angle that I approach it is a far more cynical view that sees organizations that are benevolent in their intentions becoming wedded to power, becoming attached (in all senses) to that power, and taking actions that are anything but benevolent. Through multiple small cruelties that get justified and excused as “will of the Gods,” their Chosen One loses faith in them, misplacing his trust in what turns out to be the Devil, and brings shame and doom upon all. Still dealing with a tragedy, just disagreeing on what parts in the system failed.

(BTW, this is what makes fandom FUN. Take 50 people to the same film, and you get 100 different takes and ideas about what everyone thought they saw)

#writerbuddha #star wars #fandom meta #jedi critical #george lucas critical

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eastern-lights · 2 years

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War of the Ancients could have been So Much Better (and so could the Stormrage twins)

The War of the Ancients trilogy was... pretty average. And that’s usually completely fine in a book, but the trouble is, it had so much potential to be good. Let me explain. As far as I’m concerned, the brothers’ arcs were a pretty brilliant deconstruction of the Chosen One trope. Illidan gets the Chosen One brand when he is born because of his gold eyes, with Malfurion presumably being just ‘the other one’. You’d expect the story to be about Illidan fulfilling his destiny and Furion being jealous of him, but that’s not what happens.

Through no fault of his own, Illidan starts to believe the prophecy, believe that he is made for greatness and feels the enormous need to be more powerful, just to further prove the he IS the Chosen One. Malfurion on the other hand seems to be so used to just being the spare twin that at the start of the first book, his self-esteem is next to nonexistent. When he manages to get Cenarius to teach him druidism, he immediately brings Illidan with him, because he thinks it might be the thing his brother is chosen for. When the wild god tells him that Illidan can’t continue studying with him because “his promise lies elsewhere”, Furion’s reaction is literally:

“No! Illidan will learn! He’s just more headstrong! There’s so much pressure on him!” (Well of Eternity, Chapter 4)

He’d spent his whole life happy to be the Chosen One’s shadow (despite being exactly as powerful as him) and supporting him unconditionally that now he is terrified of actually being better at something than his brother.

When the war begins, everyone expects Illidan to be the saviour and fulfill his destiny. The pressure mounts so much that he becomes reckless and desperate in his efforts to prove himself. He starts to see the war as the opportunity he had been waiting for to really make everyone see his worth, especially Tyrande. He expects himself to be the saviour because that’s what he’s been told his entire life and when that doesn’t happen right away, he becomes insecure and resorts to drastic measures.

Furion isn’t following any sort of agenda, though. He helps Brox because he feels it’s the right thing to do. He destroys the shield on the Well of Eternity because he can, and it will help his people. And just as Illidan becomes insecure, Furion begins to see his own worth for perhaps the first time in his life, because he finally sees that he can help people by being himself and doing what he’s good at. So he continues doing just that, helping for the sake of helping.

And guess what? He ends up becoming the Chosen One. He is the one who banishes the Burning Legion, saves the Kaldorei and helps them rebuild their civilization, and ends up ruling them at Tyrande’s side. His eyes even turn gold, while Illidan has his burned out.

The theme of the books, hidden beneath many layers of unnatural dialogue, plot holes and questionable worldbuilding, is that Chosen Ones aren’t born, but made. Illidan tried so hard to be the saviour of his people that he actually hurt them, and Furion, who only ever wanted to do the right thing, ended up fulfilling his brother’s destiny.

If the author only focused more on that, reduced the frankly excessive amount of characters, refrained from forcing his OCs into a story that was never about them (as much as I love Krasus, Rhonin and Brox, the whole time-travel framing device could have been done away with), it would have given much more emotional depth to the twins’ interactions in the games, and moreover, it could have been what few Warcraft novels manage to accomplish: a really great and impactful piece of fantasy literature, with a clear message and an interesting twist on an overdone trope.

And maybe, we could have been spared the writers of WoW: Legion coming along and retconning the whole story to be “uhhh actually, Illidan is the Chosen One, nobody understood him and everyone held him back and Furion stole his girl and his well-deserved glory”. Screw that. Both of the brothers were perfect exactly as they were, both were pretty well-rounded characters with virtues and flaws and they both deserved much better than a rather averagely written trilogy and a pandering-filled expansion.

#warcraft #world of warcraft #war of the ancients #illidan stormrage #malfurion stormrage #sorry for the rant #but almost nothing makes me angrier than wasted potential in a book

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bogkeep · 2 years

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Now you've got me wondering if soulmates could work with the multi-soul basis? Forgive me, I'm hazy on anything beyond what I was exposed to in SSSS, so Idk if that's something that really fits.

Maybe it could if approached as less of a "this person completes your soul" and more of a "this person encourages this positive aspect of you in a perfectly harmonious way" and maybe there are different parts of you that need that support at different times? Maybe there are Goal-soulmates and Grief-soulmates and Romantic-soulmates, all equally important and valid in a fantasy world complete with the extra fun tropes like matching markings and all that?

Apologies, I should be getting ready for work and the idea grabbed me so I wanted to share! Hope you have a great day!!

you should absolutely explore that idea! if you want to read a really good series that heavily features soul pluralism, i LOVE The Chronicles if Ancient Darkness by Michelle Paver. it's set in pre-historic northern europe and it's really well researched and it's one of my absolutely favourite stories ever. (WAIT I JUST FOUND OUT THERE'S MORE BOOKS AFTER BOOK 6?? HELLO??? HI????? I NEED A MOMENT EXCUSE ME) - it's just that i, personally, am EXTREMELY not the right person to go to this with :'D absolutely feel free to skip this if you don't want to hear a negative rant about the whole concept of soulmates, i do Not want to cramp your style or anything! i just have a lot of anger and frustration with how something plato made up has such a chokehold on mainstream western ideas of romance and i just!!! i hate it!!! i hate it!!!!!!! there's nothing more dystopian to me than "you are one half of a whole soul, you belong together for life" - and like, what is horrifying to me is appealing to someone else, i get it! the idea of finding someone that's basically made for you, someone who you'll stay together with forever, i GET that it's something other people long for. like, i don't mind using 'soulmates' colloquially, the idea of how soulmates are made, forged, chosen - not destined. i'm all for that, and the idea that soulmates "aren't necessarily romantic" because Obviously. i know a lot of people have been trying to deconstruct soulmate narratives by making them more diverse, more aro-friendly, more polyamory-friendly, et cetera, and like! that's great. I STILL DON'T PERSONALLY ENJOY IT THOUGH. my personal philosophy on relationships and connections is so deeply rooted in, like, people are allowed to change and grow closer and grow apart and form new relationships and end them - even if something is not forever does not make it any less valuable or impactful. someone who was right to you five years ago might not be right to you anymore. a person who was an acquaintance for years is suddenly one of your closest friends that you talk to every day. and the idea of, there's people out there who are Destined to have specific connections to you, i can't stand it! it's too limiting! maybe if soulmates were an anomaly rather than "yes everyone has soulmates," maybe then i could be more on board, but only if you treat the concept of Destined Belonging with some gravitas... like, don't straight up romanticize it, i guess? maybe i'd have more interest in soulmate AUs if they were sold to me as actual dystopias. and then there's the question of 'what exactly is a soul within this worldbuilding' because the assumption that Obviously Everyone Has A Soul is, an assumption, and all the concepts like "they're soulmates but PLOT TWIST they're BAD for eachother" and idk at some point i just feel like. what's the point then. how diluted is your concept of a soul. they're two halves of a whole and it sucks. the world sucks. and you can absolutely write a lot of interesting stories about it! like you've got some interesting fucked up worldbuilding and it WOULD catch my interest if it wasn't just a vehicle for a romance 99,9% of the time!!!!!! again, i have literally nothing against people who like soulmate AUs or stories about soulmates. they just make Me Personally want to stab something

#IM SORRY IF THIS IS INCOMPREHENSIBLE HAVE A NICE DAY AT WORK

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thenightling · 1 year

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The Invitation (second viewing)

I just re-watched “The Invitation” and upon a second viewing I have to say this is genuinely the best Vampire film I’ve seen in years. Definitely the best vampire film I’ve seen since 2008′s Let the Right One In.

My only qualms are 1. How young the actor is who plays Dracula but during the confrontation near the end you do see him age a bit after being wounded so his age is dependent on how well fed or “healthy” he is. He might have deliberately chosen an excessively youthful form to seduce his new bride. And the actor does such an amazing job that I start to forget that I considered him too young for the role.

And 2. There’s one scene with a flickering light effect, which is cliché today to build tension but is ultimately annoying and potentially harmful to epileptics. Thankfully it’s not an excessively long scene.

If you like traditional Gothic Horror this is definitely the right film for you. It has everything you could want. It’s extremely low budget but very atmospheric. There’s great musical scoring, lighting, and gorgeous set designs.

It feels almost like an old Hammer Horror movie if not for the presence of DNA kits, Smart Phones, and night gowns promoting the TV series Outlander. There’s a genuine timeless quality to this film. There are aspects of it that remind me of Crimson Peak. You start to welcome the tropes because we’ve had so many vampire films that “deconstruct the cliches” that they feel fresh and new for lack of use. It felt so good to see these things in use again after so long.

Though you can tell their budget was limited they managed to keep all of Dracula’s traditional powers in tact and there’s heavy indication that yes, he does turn into a bat and wolf in the story. So many film makers with a limited budget would just leave out the shapeshifting all together.

It’s romantic, spooky, and yes, they actually managed to make Dracula a bit scary. He’s suave and charming but also predatory and menacing- precisely how Dracula should be.

This is a really under-rated movie. And as far as Sony vampire films go I actually prefer this to the year’s earlier vampire film, Morbius- which I actually did NOT hate. He was just as cheesy as his comic book counterpart but much like his comic book counter-part Dracula kicks his ass...

I loved this movie. I haven’t liked a new horror film this much since Trick ‘r Treat and I haven’t liked a new vampire film this much since Let the Right one In. That should give you an idea of how long it’s been since I was impressed with a new monster movie.

Also this is the best live-action version of Dracula I’ve seen in years. My favorite recent depiction of Dracula was the one in Netflix’s Castlevania. The last live-action Dracula I truly liked was... hmm... Well, it really has been a while since I saw a really good live-action Dracula. And I wasn’t really a fan of the recent BBC version. Perhaps if I do not count the Frank Wildhorn stage musical version of Dracula, the last live-action version of Dracula I liked was the one in the TV show Da Vinci’s Demons.

For anyone curious my absolute favorite depiction of the old count is in Fred Saberhagen’s Dracula book series, that I only read for the first time in 2011 and fast realized I liked a great deal better than Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles.

I want to see more films like The Invitation. I want The invitation to get a sequel in the style of Hammer’s Dracula movies. I want to see Dracula continue to pine for and stalk Evie who has become a full-fledged vampire hunter / monster hunter. I want this franchise to continue, damn it!

#Dracula #Count Dracula #The Invitation

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lioncunt · 3 years

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any way the wind blows review!!!

gonna put it under a cut but tl;dr i really really loved it and even the things that i was on the fence about i’ve decided i love as well lmfao

so i kind of knew going into both this and wayward son that the plot wouldn’t really EVER be as narratively satisfying as carry on’s. it would definitely be interesting and have a lot of cool thematic elements, but in terms of being a grand deconstruction of the “chosen one” genre, it couldn’t ever get better than carry on. and i’m so happy rainbow didn’t try to MAKE it that. she didn’t pull a supernatural and up the stakes to impossible, outlandish degrees. both wayward son and awtwb had realistic, fascinating plots that served as a metaphor for the internal struggles of the characters.

the reason i’m beginning this review by talking about the plot is because it’s what i’ve seen the most criticism directed towards. and like i DO get it, i also was taken aback at first at how the actual plot is kind of background noise for the first couple hundred pages. but like...i think it WORKS. again, this whole trilogy is a deconstruction. that’s its PURPOSE. obviously it’s doing other things as well, but it started by taking this well-worn and well-loved trope and completely turning it on its head, giving us permission to acknowledge all the damage it causes and how our love of this type of story is honestly kind of harmful. we turn off that part of our brains when we read harry potter or something else with traumatized child protagonists, in order for us to actually enjoy it, but the simon snow trilogy has always said, “hey, this is kind of fucked up, huh? you’re allowed to think that.”

anyway, the way that translates to the plot here is that there’s not always some huge mystical big bad, or obviously evil antagonist. the horror can be going on in the world around you, in the background of your day-to-day life dealing with your own shit, creeping up on you until suddenly your loved ones are spouting off nonsense that is an absolutely CHILLING allegory for eugenics, by the way, which i’ve seen NOBODY talk about. the clear political parallels were so well done, but not heavy-handed, and they worked wonderfully as an ending to this story. simon at the end being a target for an angry mob, who are victims of intense ableism themselves (the metaphor of being a weak mage = having a disability), how these religious extremists will point at what they deem abnormal and use them as a scapegoat, the disgusting “survival of the fittest” mentality leading to “i can make this society great again” - it was all just incredibly well written, in my opinion. and the fact that it happened so slowly, in the background, made it all the better. you don’t really notice how bad it’s getting until it’s BAD.

it also, again, works so well as a manifestation of the characters’ inner strife. others have put it better than me already, so i won’t talk about it too much, but the fact that the book is saying you don’t need to be like everyone else in order to accomplish great things and have a good life, you don't need to have magic, you don’t need to be human, you don’t need to be neurotypical or able-bodied or straight or white or ANYTHING these people will have you believe in order to make you obedient to them and hateful to others -- it’s fantastic.

this kind of segues into the other big criticism i’m seeing, which is simon and baz’s one-day breakup. again, this has already been analyzed well, so i won't ramble about it, but wayward son was their breakup. metaphorically speaking. and i’m glad that it didn’t take some big, grand moment for them to get back together, even though it would have been narratively cathartic. that’s not how life works - it was so much better and realistic to have simon face the harsh difficulties of TRYING than dragging out a separation plot line that would have added NOTHING to his character. or baz’s. the only thing about their entire relationship that i would have done a bit differently is shorten the timeline, because a year and a half is a very long and honestly unrealistic time to go in a relationship without talking about sexual history or going on dates, even if there’s a lot of baggage. but that’s not that big a deal and i’m easily able to look past it.

(as a side note I'm getting annoyed at seeing all these takes that there’s too much sexual content. like i get it because the first two books are solidly YA and this is being marketed as YA even though it’s definitely NA, but like....sex is important. sex scenes and sexual content are an extremely important part of depicting the human experience. and lack of sex as well!! every single intimate scene between them was NOT super graphic and had such incredibly important significance narratively and character-wise - and yeah that includes any kinks that were brought up, like jesus they’re in their 20s and have been in a non-sexual relationship for a year and a half i think it’s pretty fucking relevant that there are intimate scenes!!! anyway moving on.)

i really loved penny and shepard’s plot - their relationship was so wonderful and charming and excellent for their characters, and i only wish we could have gotten their demon plot threaded into the larger picture, because after shepard was cured it felt like they were just standing there. that’s one of my very few complaints about the book. but they’re such good characters and i love them SO MUCH.

AND THANK GOD FOR AGATHA AND NIAMH. like i cannot put into words how fucking happy i was when i realized where that was headed. the cinematic nature of agatha and niamh helping the goat give birth while simon’s flying in the chapel and being targeted by a mob was just. so cool like i can’t even describe it it was so coooooool and then agatha and niamh KISSING and agatha found her PLACE and I'm so happy for her.

just in general the characters and relationships were fucking exquisite. i can’t help but love the way RR writes, especially her dialogue. it’s so real and three dimensional and her characters truly come alive and i care about them and love them so much. i’m so happy they’re happy, i wouldn’t have been able to stand it if they weren’t.

and everything got wrapped up so well in my opinion!! i don’t know what the hell people are talking about when they say they still have questions, like girl what about??? simon found his family, simon got a sword that isn’t tied to trauma, baz found out that he’ll get to grow old with simon, all their families are okay, penny and shepard are in love, agatha’s herding goats and a lesbian, there will probably be new threats and antagonists but they'll be able to handle them, life will continue to be difficult but they’ll get through it like WHAT do you not understand what’s not clicking i genuinely want to know.

ok actually i have ONE single question and that’s. did baz pick up the sword at the end. because the way it’s written it sounds like he did and i like do not understand that at all. someone answer please.

anyway that’s my review 10/10 would recommend

#any way the wind blows #awtwb spoilers #simon snow #snowbaz #carry on

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hamliet · 3 years

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The Girl Who Gets to Have It All: Buffy Summers

So with @linkspooky‘s encouragement, I have binged Buffy the Vampire Slayer and relived my childhood culture. And, it's a 10/10 for me. Not that it doesn't have flaws, but it's genuinely one of the best stories I've seen, with consistent character arcs, powerful themes, and a beautiful message. It's also like... purportedly about vampires and demons and superpowered chosen ones, but it's actually all about humanity.

Buffy was able to be a teenage girl, allowed to like the things teen girls are scorned for (boys, shopping, etc), to be insecure about the thing teenage girls are insecure about (future careers, dating, school, parents), and to be a superhero with its good and its bad aspects. The story wasn’t afraid to call Buffy on her flaws (sometimes she got in a very ‘I am the righteous chosen one’ mode) and to respect and honor each of her desires (to be a good person, to be loved, and more). The story listened to what she wanted and respected her desires, giving her the challenges needed to overcome her flaws while also never teaching her a lesson about wanting bad boys or romance is silly or any manner of dark warnings stories like to throw at teenage girls.

It respected teenage girls--nerdy girls like Willow, jocks like Buffy, lonely wallflowers with trauma like Dawn, and popular/snobby ones like Cordelia, girls gone wild like Faith. It never once reduced them to the stereotypes that were lurking right there: each character was fully rounded, human, flawed and yet with respected interests and goals. This is so rare for a story that I’m still in awe.

The story as a whole follows Buffy from 15 to 21, of her as she grows from teenager to adult. She acts like a teenager and grows to act like a young adult, wrestling with loneliness and duty. The adults, like Giles, Joyce, and Jenny, are not perfect either, but neither are they “bad parents” or “bad mentors” necessarily. Joyce in particular says something terrible to Buffy, but she tries to do better, and it’s rare to see a parent in YA stories shown with such nuance. Basically, it wrote the long-lasting adult characters as human beings, too.

Speaking of growing up, I appreciated how Buffy’s love interests mirrored this. Angel was someone Buffy loved and admired, wanted to be like, but who was always either extreme good or extreme bad, and combined with Buffy’s own tendencies towards black-white thinking, made for a beautiful relationship to help her grow, but didn’t necessarily form a foundation for a long-term partner. Spike, on the other hand... they both saw each other at their worst and were drawn to each other even then, and were inspired to become better because they couldn’t bear to be a person who treated the other person so wrongly. They pushed each other to become the best them they could be, and believed in each other. Also, Spuffy is an enemies to lovers ship for the ages.

(Also, most of the other ships were well-done or at least can be understood. Riley was very obviously wrong for Buffy which paralleled Harmony and Spike in being 100% wrong for each other. Cordelia and Xander were a fun ship even if we all knew it would never last, and Willow and Oz were beautiful and cute. But Xander and Anya and Willow and Tara? OTPs. As were Giles and Jenny, the librarian and the computer teacher.)

That said, it’s not a perfect series. No story is. All of the characters and ships had problematic aspects to them worthy of critique, and the writing is very 90s in a lot of ways. It’s a product of its time, and in many ways it’s good society has progressed beyond some of the tropes/metaphors used in the show. In other way, though, the show was ahead of its time, and in a good way it wasn’t bound by the fear of purity policing with its takes on redemption (many characters would never fly today).

So, in order of seasons ranked from my very favorite to my “still enjoyed it very much” (no season was actually bad, imo), here’s my review. I’ll also review my top 10 villains in the show, because Buffy does villains very well in terms of the redeemable and irredeemable.

Season 7: Yep, the final season was my favorite.

Overall Opinion: Buffy's finale is literally "f*ck them men, our power is ours" and while it seems cheesy it actually works (also, f*ck in both a literal and figurative sense). The series strongly hit all the themes: love as strength, and redemption. Buffy consistently shows love as her strength--*all* kinds of love. Friendship w Willow/Xander, familial with Joyce/Dawn, romantic with Spike/Angel. These types of love are also never pitted against each other as is so often the case in current-day media. It's beautiful. Also, Spike’s confrontation with Wood was so powerful in terms of exploring forgiveness, redemption, and reconciliation: where they overlap and where they don't, and what it means to move forward.

Unpopular Opinion: I have seen a lot didn’t like the inclusion of Potential Slayers, and while I agree they could have been better incorporated/characterized, it was a great way to show Buffy’s final stage of growing up to be ending her chosen one status and projecting/multiplying her powers over the world.

Biggest Critique: Kennedy was female Riley--the anti-Tara to Riley’s anti-Angel (by ‘anti’ I mean opposite in every way). Kennedy was annoying and immature. Her role, like Riley’s, was less about exploring her as a character and more about her just being stamped as “love interest: lesbian.”

Favorite Episodes: Beneath You, Lies My Parents Told Me, Touched, Chosen

Season 6:

Overall Opinion: I said this on Twitter, but I felt like this was Buffy’s The Last Jedi or Empire Strikes Back moment. It is polarizing and dark, deconstructing the tropes it stands on--but by digging to the core of these tropes, it actually makes what’s good about them shine brighter. Everyone’s enemy was the worst versions of themselves. Giles left Buffy, Willow's struggle to relate to the world led to her trying to destroy it, Buffy hurt everyone through her anger, Xander abandoned Anya at the altar, Spike... yeah. It ages well as an integral part of the story, and the Trio were eerily prophetic.

Unpopular Opinion: Dawn is a great character with a good arc. A traumatized teen acting out and struggling to come to terms with loss and identity? She wasn’t whiny; she was realistic.

Biggest Critique: Willow’s addiction coding (I’ll discuss this below) and Seeing Red as an episode. I see the argument for both of its controversial scenes from a narrative perspective: Willow starts the season not grieving Buffy but instead being determined to fix it with magic and needs to learn to grieve, but. Still. Bury your gays is not a good look. For the Spike scene... he conflates sex/passion and violence (”love is blood, children” is something he said way back in season 3), but like Tara’s death, it had more to do with Spike (as Tara’s death did for Willow) than with Buffy’s arc, and as for the actual execution... they really botched that. Did it like... have to go on that long or go that far? No. Also, the framing was good, but inconsistent with the rest of the series (Xander to Buffy in the hyena episode, Faith to Xander and to Riley, etc.)

Favorite Episodes: Once More With Feeling, Smashed, Grave

Season 3 (tied with Season 5):

Overall Opinion: The opening continuity of Buffy meeting Lily/Anne after saving her life in Season 2 was sweet. The Witchhunt episode had really powerful subtext: stories of deaths that aren’t even true are actually demons that possess the town and convince them to turn against their children in the name of protecting the children. It’s a good commentary on, oh, everything in society. Faith’s character arc was fantastic, and her chemistry with Buffy was off the charts (look, I may be Spuffy all the way, but Fuffy has rights). The finale was satisfying in so many ways, seeing the entire graduating class unite to destroy the Mayor and the school with it, symbolizing Buffy et al’s readiness to move on to college. Oz's relationship with Willow was very sweet and meaningful for a first romance for Willow.

Unpopular Opinion: I actually don’t really have one. Maybe that the miracle in Amends was earned? I think you can make a decent case that Season 3 is the best written of the seasons, but can only truly be thematically appreciated to its full potential in the light of subsequent seasons (which finish Faith’s arc and deconstruct Buffy’s).

Biggest Critique: It forgot Buffy killed the hyena guy in Season 1, making her continual insistence that she can’t kill people very ?????

Favorite Episodes: Lovers Walk, Amends, Graduation Day Part 2

Season 5, which ties with Season 3:

Overall Opinion: The entire season is about family and what it means, from Tara’s to Buffy’s to the Scoobies. I loved Glory aka Enoshima Junko as the Big Bad, I loved Dawn’s interesting meta commentary on retconning (like, the fact that she’s retconned in matters), and most of my ships are still alive. Joyce’s relationship with Spike is one of the most heartwarming aspects, and Spike’s arc’s desire is clearly highlighted: he wants to be seen as a person. The episodes after Joyce’s death are the most honest portrayals of grief I’ve ever seen, and absolutely brutal to watch.

Unpopular Opinion: Buffy’s choice at the end seems a deliberate inversion of her choice at the end of Season 2 (sacrifice a loved one to save the world), but it actually isn’t: much like at the end of Season 2 where Buffy skips town because she’s devastated after killing Angel and doesn’t want to sort out being expelled, her mom knowing she’s the slayer, and her own trauma, Buffy’s sacrifice here was as much about her wanting the easy way out of relationships, family, college, etc. as it was about saving Dawn. Buffy’s death is coded as a suicide, which Season 6 emphasizes as well.

Biggest Critique: Like Season 3, I don’t have a lot to critique here. I wish the suicidal coding had been a little more obvious in Season 5 itself, but also I’m not sure it could have been more obvious; it��s pretty apparent if you pay attention. Maybe also that Buffy and Riley’s relationship failing should have been more squarely blamed on Riley, you know, being insecure and cheating.

Favorite Episodes: Family, Fool for Love, Intervention.

Season 2:

Overall Opinion: Heartbreakingly tragic but exciting and revealing at the same time. It asked the viewer interesting questions about redemption and forgiveness and atonement through Angel being honest about his past, and then decided to show us his past now reenacted, challenging us. And still, we saw them save him in a parallel to saving Willow in Season 6 (but Season 2 was tragic because it wasn’t enough, while Season 6 was not). Jenny’s death was agonizing, and the scene were Angel watches Buffy, Willow, and Joyce get the news through the window was powerful. We didn’t have to hear them to get the grief.

Unpopular Opinion: Jenny’s death isn’t a fridging; it works for her arc too when you consider her history. She worked to save the person whose life she was tasked to ruin, and it cost her her own--yet she still succeeded, because Jenny brought joy and wisdom to the show. Kendra’s death, on the other hand... was because they needed the stakes to be high--but we already knew that before she died. So, her death was useless.

Biggest Critique: The subtext was Not It. It was essentially “do not have sex. Your older boyfriend will lose his soul, kill your friends, you’ll lose your family, your school, your home, and have to kill your true love or else hell will literally swallow earth.”

Favorite Episodes: School Hard, Passion, Becoming Part 2.

Season 1:

Overall Opinion: I really liked it; it’s just lower on this list because the others are just better. It’s a great introduction to the series and to its characters, from Giles to Buffy to Willow to Jenny to Cordelia. It has great subtext a lot of the time (for example, Natalie French as She-Mantis is a literal predatory bug who engages in predatory behavior with students). Additionally, it subverts the typical YA trope of two guys and a girl, in which the girl is usually the least interesting character. Buffy and Willow were both fully fledged characters from the beginning with distinct strengths (even before Willow became a witch, as she wasn’t one in season 1 yet), while Xander was the more ordinary of the group.

Unpopular Opinion/Biggest Critique: Xander’s arc showed its first flaws that unfortunately continued throughout the series: his writing was either very good or very indulgent in ways it never was for other characters. (cough, the hyena episode, cough, in which he gets to skirt responsibility--and acknowledges that he is skirting it--for something the show will later hold others to account for). Xander’s just kind of inconsistent, which weakened his character over all. (Which is why both his love interests--Cordelia and then ultimately Anya--were good for him: they did not indulge him.)

Favorite Episode: Witch, Nightmares.

Season 4:

Overall Opinion: it’s still a good season. It’s a good portrayal of college and the growing pains of branching out, the strains of college growth on relationships (romantic and platonic). It shows us the first hints of Spuffy, giving us some serious Jungian symbolism between Spike and Buffy early on, and does well in establishing Xander/Anya and Willow/Tara as beautiful OTPs. Faith and Buffy’s foiling is fantastic. The Halloween episode was very fun as well. However, it suffers because its Big Bad, Adam, is not all that compelling thematically--yet, he could have been. See, the final battle pulls off the Power of Friendship in a really strong way but notably the season does not end there. Instead, it ends on dreams of each character’s worst fears, continuing what we saw in Nightmares in Season 1. Why? Because it shows us that the characters’ wars aren’t against monsters, but monsters of their own making: their flaws. Adam, as a literal Frankenstein, exemplifies this, but it wasn’t capitalized on as well as it could have been.

Unpopular Opinion: Beer Bad isn’t a bad episode, at the very least because Buffy gets to punch Parker. It’s not one of the series’ best, obviously, but it does give Buffy an arc in that she gets her daydream of Parker begging her to come back, but she has overcome that desire and her desire for revenge. If we wanna talk about bad subtext in Season 4, Season 2′s Not It sex subtext continues in the Where the Wild Things Are episode in this season; it’s a powerful callout of abusive purity-culture churches, until the fact that the shame creates a literal curse undermines the progressive message it’s supposed to send. Also, the Thanksgiving episode (Pangs) is a nightmare of white guilt and Oh God Shut Up White People.

Biggest Critique: Riley is awful. Like Kennedy, he had “love interest:normal” stamped on him and that was it. The thing is, he could have worked as an Angel foil, representative of the normal-life aspect of Buffy to Angel’s vampire/supernatural aspect, but the writers never explore this and seemed to even try to back away from that later on. They threw all the romantic cliches at the wall to see what sticks, from klutzy “I dropped my schoolbooks, that’s how we met” to cliché lines that had me rolling my eyes. Do you know how bad a romance has to be to make me dislike romantic tropes?

Favorite Episodes: Fear Itself, Hush, Restless

Villain rankings:

Dark Willow, the only villain to be truly sympathetic. While the addiction coding was insensitive and, while unsurprising for its time, aged extremely poorly. That said, Willow’s turn to the dark side after Tara’s death worked well for her character and the story: it was believable and paid off what had been building since Season 1's “Nightmares” episode (Willow’s inferiority complex).

Glory managed to be genuinely terrifying, and humorous/enjoyable too. Her minions and their numerous nicknames for Glorificus were hilarious, as was her intense vanity. Her merging with Ben--a human being who genuinely wanted to be kind and good--added complexity and tragedy to her role.

The First. A really good take on Satan. The seventh season as well as the First’s first appearance in season 3′s “Amends” had kind of blatant Christian symbolism, and so the First being essentially Satan works. Their disguising themselves as dead loved ones and the subtle manipulation they used to alienate people was really disturbing and well done.

The Mayor, who was a terrible person but a truly good father. He provided an interesting contrast to the normal ‘bad dad’ bad guy character, in that he provided Faith exactly what the other characters refused to: he saw the best in her and offered her parental support, while the heroes didn’t and wound up pushing her away.

The Trio, who were villains ahead of their time: whiny fanboy reddit dudebros, basically. The stakes seemed so much lower than fighting Glory, a literal god, the previous season. But that’s why they worked so well for Season 6′s human themes, and were especially disturbing because we all know people like them. I also appreciated the surprisingly sensitive takes on Jonathan and Andrew, who got to redeem themselves, but Warren did not, and I don’t think he should have either.

Angelus + Drusilla. I’m ranking them below the Trio because Angelus was just sooooo different from Angel that it was difficult for me to feel the same way for him. He was still Angel, so it wasn’t possible to enjoy his villainy, but he also wasn’t nearly as sympathetic as Dark Willow, had no redeeming qualities like the Mayor, and wasn’t as disturbingly realistic as the Trio. However, the emotional stakes were excellently executed with him as the Big Bad, in that you were never quite sure how to feel and it just plain hurt. Also, Drusilla was a favorite recurring character. She was sympathetic and yet batsh*t enough to be enjoyable as a villain at the same time.

The Master, who was just completely camp and really worked as an introductory villain. He was scary enough to believe he was a threat, and was funny enough to introduce the series’ humor as well. He was, like Glory, an enjoyable Big Bad.

The Gentlemen, the one-off villains of Season 4′s Hush who were genuinely terrifying. It’s not as if they got a lot of explanation or any backstory, but they didn’t need it.

Caleb, the misogynist priest. Fitting with the First’s Christian symbolism, Caleb serving as a spokesperson of all bad religious beliefs felt appropriate. He was also a good foil to Warren--being actually supernaturally powered instead of a wannabe--and to Tara’s family in being full-out evil. I despised him.

Snyder. Okay Snyder is not a Big Bad like Adam is, but let’s face it: Adam is lame compared to the other villains. But Snyder as a principal? He was so irritating and yet really well used in the series to critique overly strict, hypocritical teachers. Like, we all know teachers like him. I loved to hate him, and his ending was so satisfying.

#buffy the vampire slayer #btvs #spuffy #buffy summers #dawn summers #spike #angel #cordelia chase #btvs giles #willow rosenberg #tillow #tara maclay #anya jenkins #xanya #xander harris #jenny calendar #kendra young #faith lehane #hamliet reviews

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janiedean · 3 years

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@seethemflying I think Sansa is in the next bracket down of important characters (with Jaime). In the outline, they weren't named as one of the big five, but in the process of writing have grown more important. No way is Sansa's ending going to be anything like Show Sansa's, though (and same with Jaime tbh).

agreed but lemme take a second from cramming to rant about this because I honestly have An Issue

in the sense: I 100% agree that both jaime and sansa are next bracket/secondary main (speaking as someone whose top five is made by ppl who are either secondary main or tertiary main if they have a pov like.... I'm not gonna argue that theon is a main fiver bc he's in my top three) but like what I can't deal with is the following as in that the main five are the main five bc they have in between them all the main themes george wants to tackle + the main plot stuff except for the 'romance is my #1 sense of existing in the plot', as in:

jon is azor ahai + has the chosen one deconstruction trope going on + most likely has the 'I never wanted to be Important™/have a throne but I'll have to for duty' ending + identity arc ie if he's not jon snow first of his name i'm eating my hat

dany has the dragons + the targ ancestry deal + 'I thought I wanted to rule but actually I don't I just want to help ppl' storyline (which is the hill i'm dying on)

bran has the oH WAIT fisher king deconstruction going on + the magic™ storyline + he's most likely kitn + he's tied to uh the literal rebirth of the continent so + how to deal with disability storyline

arya has the I NEED TO REALIZE WHO I AM storyline + the learning to be yourself as a gnc woman storyline + revenge is shit storyline + I'll become a skilled assassin and choose not to act on it unless absolutely necessary storyline + trauma/ptsd storyline tied to losing your own identity

tyrion has the shakesperean hero thing going on as in I have to make peace with the fact that I killed my father/did mistakes + overcoming the societal issues/problems/the prejudice most ppl have for him that’s caused by his disability storyline + he's the only one of these five who doesn't have any magical stuff in his background/only has his brain to rely on + overcoming his family's legacy and making it better storyline

now: a bunch of other minor/secondary characters have all of this (I mean idk theon and jaime have identity + learning to deal with/overcoming societal scorn given by them being disabled/having become disabled in various ways + ptsd, brienne has the gnc woman thing etc) but like each single one of these characters only lacks the OH I HAVE A BIGASS GREAT ROMANCE WITH MY BACKGROUND (I mean gendry exists to be arya's LI but idt it's gonna be important in her future storyline the way it'll be in brienne's to say one).. which oh wait SANSA JAIME AND BRIENNE HAVE, because guess what that's the next secondary bracket where those three characters have it as a main part of the story which is exempt from the politics angle (bc none of them is tied to the iron trap by the plot no none of them jaime doesn't want it, brienne isn't a contender and sansa was supposed to be queen in the beginning so she's obviously not going to be that later no not even qitn that's gonna be bran) and here falls the entire shebang because what half of this fandom doesn't seem to get is that *drumroll* george's favorite angle to tackle when it comes to romance is... THAT EXTERNAL BEAUTY IS NOT WHAT YOU SHOULD BE LOOKING AT IN PEOPLE AT THE END OF IT AND GUESS WHAT THAT'S THE MAIN POINT OF ALL OF THEM PLUS THE KNIGHTHOOD DECONSTRUCTION THING and with that I mean:

not counting that sansa's reaction to trauma is written to be specular and opposite to arya's as in arya tends to lose sight of herself/becomes someone else/resorts to violence to survive sansa never loses track of herself/her innate kindness which... is smth I wish dnd remembered, the thing is: sansa is presented in the beginning as 'i'm a twelve year old with all the issues with shallowness a 12yo brought up like me can have and everything I want from life is a good love story', which... guess what she's 100% going to get except

characters need to have an evolution, if sansa wants a handsome pretty guy who'll make her queen in the beginning and she has to realize joffrey was The Worst, do we really think her endgame is being queen of a handsome nice king when her entire schtick is liking songs about knights and wanting true love and someone gentle and brave blah blah? no, and that's exceedingly obvious when the text throws at you in the face that her only two actually viable choices for LI - sandor and tyrion - are.. guys who are either disfigured or disabled or traumatized or all three of them but are actually good people and she has to learn to see beyond looks, and no one else fits that bill period - sansa isn't getting with a pretty guy who'll make her queen, sansa will find love with a guy who's nowhere near pretty or handsome but will love her for who she is and that she will see the good behind the not-handsomeness dot and she'll prob go back north with him and be happy advising bran bc she learned stuff in court at most and I'm dying on that hill, bc again the entire point of her sl is having the nice good love story where she sees beyond external beauty which has been clear from page five of her first pov imvho

never mind that again she wants to be a queen in the beginning and then she realizes it's shit so why would she be one in the end? like not to be that asshole but george isn't exactly pro monarchy and it's obvious he's not going to paint it as an inherently positive thing

this attaches back to the fact that there's a whole knighthood deconstruction happening for which sansa has to realize that the gallant/true knights are not the ones who seem that/look like it/flaunt it around

which brings us to the fact that oh wait sandor and jaime in themselves are true knights in spite of the fact that sandor refuses to even consider himself one and jaime thinks he fucked it up and no one sees them as such

and that the truest knight in westeros who will get recognized as such is brienne

who doesn't look standard hot either

and has the love story with jaime right on page

and jaime also has the love story right on page where he has to realize he's into people that aren't c. especially brienne and so on which is what's happening right now like jb recognizing themselves as true knights™ is part of their whole thing like... it's... important

(this counting that san/san is beauty and the beast played straight with sansa as the beauty while jb is the same trope except reversed on itself five times because both j and b are both of them)

and this would also like make utter sense if oh, wait, jb weren't in the riverlands where sandor also is and if oh wait who has sworn a vow to find sansa like again I'm dying on the hill that brienne kills stoneheart, they go on the quiet isle to recover, sandor is like AH YOU'RE LOOKING FOR SANSA and sansa gets rescued in the vale by the only three true knights in these series including the one that's her actual love interest at least the way I see it and where do you think that's going to end yeah exactly

as in: she'll have the umpteenth proof that all the true knights in these books don't look like the songs and she'll get the one she wanted

(also brienne is way more like sansa than arya in personality so like... parallelism of two girls into romantic stuff getting with the guys they like? except that for b. it's relevant bc she's ugly and she gets with hot guy who's into her and for s. it's relevant bc she's hot and she goes with guy-everyone-considers-a-lost-cause showing that they're not exactly a lost cause)

like sansa is there to a) have half of the main love story plot b) as the resident song expert witness what knighthood actually means, jaime is the resident person doing things for love and finding ways to do it that aren't toxic/finds someone who'll actually love him and not what he represents, brienne is the resident 'I never thought anyone would be into me and I'm pursuing my dreams without a shred of hope they'll go well' and she gets all of that and sandor is there to be sansa's LI and to tell ppl that you can go to rehab and have a decent life even if you were used and abused to hell and back (jaime too tbh) and like none of that has to do with the iron trap, the magic, the zombies and whatnot but it's okay because it's their point in the plot and is2g I just wish people would take characters for what they represent instead of shoehorning them into others's themes/stories just because it's what they want for them, the end

(I could rant about the third bracket of characters ie theon & co & getting over trauma/ptsd without the Love Story™ but I have to get back to study if I wanna fill some prompts later so it's not gonna happen for now but... sorry for the rant I'm just really tired of the whole sansastark will get the iron trap and the north and be the ymbq and get with a guy that looks good for her depending on what we ship not considering the overall reaching plot or her book plot and everyone else will have zero relevance in the story because we said so especially when it means giving all of that to a character who is uh not belonging to any of the categories represented by the main five which are actually kiiindaaaa relevant rep but I'mma just gonna shut up here)

#janie rants #janie writes meta #i guess #anti show sansa #seethemflying #janie replies #jaime x brienne for ts #sansan for ts #long post for ts #janie speculates #right i'm back on studying penal law rip #my stuff

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